Spanish Flu
by Gingercookiessnaps
Summary: They took them with them. No, they weren't extremely virulent. Though, they had to take that one. The 1918 H1N1 pandemic is known throughout the world. It "died" off when people were getting used to it. Though, Vash's world has no such immunity. And they just unleashed. Be prepared for the Spanish flu ... its about to take hold. (PG-13)


**A/N: **I recently got into Trigun, and I thought this would be an interesting story. The humans _are _from Earth, so I imagine they don't have the herd immunity as those from Earth for the 1918 H1N1 influenza strain. I'll explain things with the (#) symbol. It will be explained at the end of the chapter. I do hope that everybody enjoys. I love writing these kinds of stories. Must be the biologist in me.

* * *

Winds whipped mild sandstorms as it bellowed through the desert. The godforsaken planet was all desert, and water was a luxury. The group covered their mouths with cloths as to keep the sand from their lungs. Some hacked from accidentally getting sand into their mouth; it wasn't a very pleasant taste. They should have never been in the desert with the winds as strong as they were; however, the group had discovered something. It was a small ship with many containers lined on the walls. They were cold storage containers; lost technology from the Great Fall. They were a group of scientists, and the discovery was not going to go unnoticed by them. One of the scientists skimmed his hands over the containers until he spotted one locked tightly in the back as if it was dangerous. The numbers "1918" were seen as he skimmed his lantern over it. His head tilted as he thought about the meaning behind the label.

"Hey, Cameo, find anything interesting!"

The young man turned his head as he heard his name being called by the leader of the group. Dr. Nickolas was not a patient person, and if you took forever, you had better have found something of interesting. Cameo, age 25, beckoned his boss over to the container. Dr. Nickolas, age 50, had done the same exact thing as his assistant. He stared at the container with a look of contempt on his face. It was mysterious to him; the container contained a mystery more beautiful than the other containers. The wind howled as the ship shook. Cracks appeared on the brittle walls. The ship was old, and it was going to sink into the earth. Dr. Nickolas made a quick, rash decision to grab the container and tell the group to all back.

The ship sunk into the sand as they walked over the dunes to the small town of Saint Joan. The container was clenched to Cameo's chest as he carried it for his boss - his employer. The silver container beeped in warning as it began to thaw on its own from the heat of the desert. The beeping wasn't heard over the roar of the wind. The blinked red light went unnoticed by any members of the science team; they were blissfully unaware of the thing residing in the container. A thing that could possibly wipe out the human race from human fault. A deadly enemy was on the horizon.

And nobody saw this one coming.

5 Days Later

Saint Joan was a beautiful town. It was small, population 1500, and a small blip on the map. At the moment, the sun was shining and the shutters were open. Sand covered the porches of many of the buildings. It didn't stop the children from playing in their own personal sandboxes. Everybody knew everybody, and the small town bustled with busy bees. Saint Joan had only the bare essentials in the town. A small hospital being an important aspect of the place. It was the biggest building in town, and the townspeople were proud of it. Children giggled as a groan was heard. A group of children had a person in a headlock ... arm-lock ... leg-lock ... the children had him in a full body lock. He laughed and giggled with them. The tail of his red coat bellowed with the breeze as he lay on the porch rolling in the sand to get the children off of him.

"He never changes," Meryl commented in a dry tone. "We're here for three days, and he became the village idiot."

"Mr. Vash looks like he's having fun!" chipped in her partner, Millie. "It's not a bad thing he gets along with the children. It means he's not truly dangerous, right?"

Meryl looked at her taller friend with a raised eyebrow. Millie smiled as she clapped her hands together with the thought of children trusting their "charge". The group had stumbled upon Saint Joan two days ago, and they decided it was a good place to stay for a few days to let the destruction of the Human Typhoon to dissipate to a mere minimum before Vash decided to do something foolish again to save everybody's lives. Meryl swore she'd have grey hairs before turning 30 years old; she did _not_ want grey hairs before the age of 30. Hell, she didn't want grey hairs **at** the age of 30. She covered her face with her hand to shield the sand from blowing into her eyes. The breeze picked up the drift sand from the porches. She sneezed into her elbow before scrunching her nose. She rubbed her sleeve over her nose before rubbing her head.

The headache hadn't gone away.

"Are you alright, Meryl?" asked Millie as she watched her friend and partner.

"I'm fine," Meryl answered. "Headache ... Vash?"

Vash the Stampede had stopped playing with the children as he stared at the commotion in the hospital. People were rampaging the doors. His smile turned to a frown as he pulled the children off of him. Speaking quickly, the man made his way to the hospital. Meryl and Millie looked at each before following him; they wanted to make sure he didn't get into trouble - especially at a hospital. The spiky haired gunman stopped as he watched through the windows of the hospital. His eyes widened. These people were sick. Some were slumped in their chairs, unable to move, as they were tired. Others were coughing to the point of spitting out blood (1). The image of blue tinted skin (2) had him backing away from the hospital. He knew these symptoms; he knew these symptoms.

Why couldn't he remember where he knew them from?

"Meryl!" came Millie's surprised shout.

4 Days Before

Dr. Nickolas twirled the container in his hand before making his decision. They were going to thaw the cylinder and study the contents within it. Not a lot was known after the Great Fall, and he wasn't going to let this opportunity pass him. He threw the container in the air before catching it.

"Cameo, thaw the container. After, I want you to open it to see what is in it."

"Yes, Dr. Nickolas."

Cameo walked into the lab before setting the container on the table. The lab wasn't anything special; they didn't have a lot of equipment. There wasn't much to study on the planet anyway. It was desert, desert and more desert. Cameo really needed a change of pace. He placed a flame near the container. After a few minutes, the cylinder clicked open. He took the cap off of it before pulling a test tube out of it. He twirled the test tube in front of a light as to make something of the goop that was inside of it. It was amber in color, and it seemed thin. He narrowed his eyes. Was there muscle in that gunk? A picture frame fell from the wall which caused him to jump. The test tube, weak from being frozen, broke in his hand. He hissed in pain before dropping it. Shards of ice were embedded in his skin (3). Dr. Nickolas slammed the door open when he heard the crash.

"Cameo, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he whispered. "I broke the test tube that was in the container, professor."

"Let's get you cleaned, Cameo."

Cameo nodded as he allowed the doctor to pull the shards of glass from his hand. The ventilation was heard as the wind blew through it. It was a blustery day. At least, it wasn't causing sandstorms at least. Cameo winced as the biggest piece of glass was removed from his hand. Dr. Nickolas, with his assistant's blood on himself, washed Cameo's hand before wrapping it in a cloth. Afterward, he washed his own hands of the blood. Cameo looked in the container. He pulled out another test tube. Luck was on their side.

* * *

(1) - The Spanish flu was extremely bad. Many people would cough so harshly they'd tear the inside of their bodies causing them to spit up blood.

(2) - Many turned blue as they were having trouble with their breathing. Influenza is a respiratory disease meaning it messes with the airway.

(3) - Influenza is mostly a respiratory mode of transmission virus; however, the **index case** is Cameo. He was stabbed in the hand with the glass of the test tube. The virus is all throughout that thing. It can be transferred through wounds. It'll take awhile for symptoms to show as it wasn't the natural mode of transmission.


End file.
